Considering R. McG. ended up doing 700 Club commercials for Pat
Robertson I now wonder if there was ever any irony in it.
jb
Well, the ironies really pile on here. The one who was taking the song
reasonably seriously at THAT time was almost surely future drug casualty
Gram Parsons, who brought it up, and was certainly at least serious about
wanting to take the radical step of saluting the Louvins' sincerity about
these matters...It's almost impossible to see how startling Parsons'
country meets rock mission was in 1968 without taking these cultural facts
of that moment into account. THAT seriousness about the song--the serious
suggestion that it had something to tell us in its unabshed sincerity, was
certainly lost in the recording--and I don't recall anybody taking it
straight. People who'd cover that version live virtually always did it
ironically--lacking the scruples Junior mentioned to NOT do it as an
offense to the seriously Christian.
(And it's also useful to remember; when country artists attempted to speak
to the rock and rollers after Gram, coming from The Other Side, they'd
generally do it with vague or specific references to drug use, sex
etcI guess this is what we meant by meteing half way. Thgere really
was a kind of truce among those in these alt.country circles for a while
there. Rock topics with country sounds and country topics with rock sounds
are still pretty much among the alt.country staples, no? )
..Meanwhile, back at the rodeo: .'Christian Life" was one of the
Sweetheart cuts replaced by a McGuinn version, and ol' Roger was years away
from that Christian Conversion at that time...The song SOUNDS
tongue-in-cheek as McGuinn sings it on the released version, always
has--and is difficult to hear any other way. (The Gram version has since
become available for comparison.)
Here are the comments of Johnny Rogan in His Byrds book Timeless Flight,
after pointing out that Chris Hillman had brought in "I Am a Pilgrim",
which he of course new from his bluegrass background:
"The Christian Life" continued to stress the religious theme, and to hear
the Byrds celebrating the virtues of godliness seemed, to many listeners,
almost ironic. This was one of the tracks that had to be reerecorded with
McGuinn replacing Parsons on lead vocal. Roger clearly attempts to imitate
Parsons' vocal style and the entire effect is bizarre. What is,
presumably, meant to be a serious song, in celebration of the Christian
faith, comes across as unintentionally parodic; with McGuinn sounding as
though he's mimicking rather than imitating Parsons' vocal phrasing."
That McGuinn would later get all-so-serious about these matters just goes
to show that ironic training wheels sometimes get dropped...
I guess the kind of arguments that have been had here over "ironic" rock
takes on twang culture did not start with P2, eh!
Barry
